There was only 140 nominees in 27 categories out of over 3000 submissions at the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCA) 2018 in Nigeria. ‘Salute’ was one of the nominees, as best movie Southern Africa. While it didn’t win (the prize went to Shemu Joyah from Malawi for his film ‘the road to sunshine’), it was an amazing opportunity as it was Namibian’s first and only nomination. Thanks to Multi-Choice for inviting OYO’s director Philippe Talavera to attend, thanks to Air Namibia for flying Philippe and actor Adriano Visagie in business class and thanks to the Namibia Film Commission for sponsoring the presence of actor Dawie Engelbrecht. The awards were an opportunity to share and network.

OYO hosted an event at the Goethe Institute with the Embassy of Finland on 19, June 2018. We presented our San Matter program. In attendance was the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture Madam Sanet Steenkamp, who gave the keynote speech. The OYO dance troupe performed two pieces: 'Maria' and, for the first time to the public, 'I am hungry'. Special thanks to to the Embassy of Finland, in Windhoek and H.E. Pirkko-Liisa Kyostila, Ambassador, Embassy of Finland for unwavering support.

Exciting news: our DVD 'Salute' has been selected at the AIDS 2018 conference in Amsterdam in July. The conference is one of the largest gathering of professionals involved in issues around HIV, sexual and reproductive health and rights. Over 10,000 people are expected to attend. Competition was hard and it is a great honour for OYO to be present, under the form of this DVD, during the conference. Congratulations to all involved!

The Ombetja Yehinga Organisation Trust is proud to premiere ‘Salute’ tonight at the Warehouse Theatre. The Ombetja Yehinga Organisation Trust, OYO, for the past 18 months, did a lot of work in correctional facilities, organizing art workshops with inmates and motivating inmates to go for an HIV test. OYO repeatedly visited facilities. Step by step, inmates started to trust OYO’s workshop leaders and open up, sharing their stories. This was made possible thanks to support from the German Embassy, OSISA and from the Global Fund to fight HIV, TB and malaria. Based on those testimonies, OYO then had a writing workshop with inmates at the Windhoek Correctional Facility. We didn’t write per se, but role played situations. Inmates used their own language, their own experience. This script is, in many ways, written by inmates themselves. We wanted to keep it as real as possible. Carlito (Adriano Visagie, winner best male...

Mission

The organisation aims at using the arts - both visual and performing – to create awareness and mitigate the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and other social problems such as domestic violence, rape, and the abuse of alcohol and other drugs amongst the youth of Namibia.

Vision

OYO’s vision is to develop a society in which there is broad access to information and the arts. By developing their creative skills, young people empower themselves to make informed choices, and thus become more prosperous, increase their life expectancy, and improve the quality of their live